Considering Nan’s gregariousness and the fact that Susie did laundry down the street, we got off to a pretty early start, heading northwest through Minnesota on I-94. Nothing much to report in the scenery department. We passed Fargo and continued west, making great time and still listening to Nevada Barr’s book.
We spent the night in Bismarck, ND, home of the “Skyscraper of the Prairie,” the state’s nine-story capitol building. It was very hot all day but sunny. We stayed in a lovely Days Inn ($72) by the Interstate, and went swimming in the indoor pool. The day’s highlight came at dinner. Purely by chance, as we wandered around the downtown looking for the slightest bit of charm, we saw an attractive Mediterranean-style train station, similar to Boise’s. It’s not used as a station anymore but houses Fiesta Villa, a locally-owned Mexican restaurant of considerable atmosphere. We scored an open table outside, next to the bubbling fountain, and experienced Bismarck’s finest offering – strong margaritas and a green burrito. In the shade, the heat was tolerable, our reverie interrupted only by the occasional coal train blasting through a few feet beyond the fountain.
Back at the motel room, I zoned out on HBO, enjoying several episodes of Entourage and a heretofore unknown series, Flight of the Conchords.
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